A WAR hero died on his 64th wedding anniversary after he resisted a thief who was trying to steal his wallet, a court has heard.

John Gillespie, 88, had been walking along a riverside to look at daffodils when a man stepped in front of him.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how John tried to fend him off with his walking stick and ended up on the ground.

He needed surgery for a broken hip but died in hospital days later.

James Duguid, 51, of Raploch, Stirling, denies attempting to rob and murdering John in April last year.

It is claimed he demanded the pensioner hand over his wallet, and pushed and pulled him at an underpass at Lovers Walk in the town. He allegedly hit him with the walking stick and dragged him along the ground.

Yesterday, John’s grandson Mark Cassidy, 41, told the court how he went looking for his “papa” after seeing an ambulance as he drove to his grandparents’ house on April 19. He approached a police officer at the ambulance.

Mr Cassidy said: “He said not to worry, he had had a fall. I went into the ambulance and my grandfather was being treated.

“He was very agitated. He was in pain. He said he had been to see the daffodils. He was walking along and a man stepped in front of him and said, ‘Gie’s your wallet.’

“He demonstrated how the man thrust his hand out at him. He kind of raised his stick to try to keep the man away. The stick was seized and there was some pushing and pulling of the stick and the next thing he knew, he had fallen down.”

The veteran’s son, also John, 57, told how his father – a former Royal Navy sailor who had been mentioned in dispatches for his conduct during the World War II – “passed away on the 25th of April – on the day of his 64th wedding anniversary”.

Duguid denies murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice. The trial continues.